Free Web Hosting Service

Everybody likes to get something for nothing, and the offer of free web hosting may be too tempting for some webmasters to ignore.  This is especially true in today's economic climate, with many people working within tight budgets and trying to cut costs.  However, is free web hosting ever a serious option?  Even if you're paying nothing, is the price too high?  In this article, we'll look at what free web hosting actually involves.

About free web hosting service

1. Free web hosts aren't charities, and they don't offer web hosting out of the goodness of their hearts.  They're in business to make money too, and the way they do that is through advertising.  If you sign up with a free web host, you consent to having pop-ups and banner ads placed on your site.  Not only does this look cheap and unprofessional, you have absolutely no control over the content of those ads.  Can you be sure you're sending the right message to your visitors?

2. You're much more likely to get hacked on a free web host than with a paid provider.  This is because security is one area where the hosting company itself tends to cut costs.  If there are any security features at all, they're likely to be of the most basic type.  Sites hosted on free servers are also more vulnerable to viruses.

3. Free web hosting is notoriously unreliable.  This is because the hosting company are using lower specification servers to host a large number of websites.  At best, response times are slow.  At worst, your website won't appear at all.

4. Don't expect premium hosting features from a free web host, or generous amounts of bandwidth and disk storage space.  A free web host will usually offer the bare minimum necessary to get a basic website online, and no more.

5. Generally speaking, you can't host your own domain name on a free web host service.  The web address will usually include the name of the host company, eg, www.mywebsite.freewebhostservices.com.  Again, this looks unprofessional.

6. Free web hosts seem to spring up almost overnight, so there is never any shortage of them to choose from.  On the down side, they can disappear just as quickly.  If that happens, and your web files are still on their server, all of your hard work will disappear along with the company.

With all that said, there is a place for free web hosts.  If you're not looking to host a serious online business or professional website, then these limitations are probably not going to be an issue.  Free web hosting can be a very good choice for personal websites or hobbies.  Some people even use them to practice their website creation skills.  However, if you're looking to portray a professional image, or if you're looking to build a proper commercial website, then free hosting represents a very false economy indeed.